dangobears

I recognize that there are many factors that you must consider for your purchases, just as we have ours. Los Angeles used to be full of sweatshops when my grandfather had a watch repair store downtown, so I consider American Apparel, despite its quirks, a local hero for bringing sweatshop-free manufacturing back to my home town. You can argue that the cotton, or the fabric, or the dyes, or what-have-you is made elsewhere, but competitive American manufacturing cannot make a resurgence if we do not recognize its value. I respect your right to live up to the expectations that Amazon must have set for you. I would only hope that you could convince your parent to be a bit less like Walmart in its eagerness to move manufacturing off-shore.

KimNicole

I am not a huge AA fan. I am a huge fan of supporting American workers.

My last purchase will be the one last week. If you go back to an American vendor, please send an email as I won't be checking the site. In the meantime, I plan on facebooking this change and making it clear that I no longer recommend woot t-shirts.

If I want clever shirts printed on foreign made t-shirts I can hit up any number of store fronts here in the NYC area. They don't cost $12.

BTW: If you're going to justify a price change by saying you need more money to maintain your quality, you need to maintain your quality for longer than a month!

fairner

I'm really sad you're changing your blanks supplier. I first started buying last year and my mom kept complaining that I was spending too much for t-shirts until I told her they were made in Texas, she was a bit less naggy then. But now they're not made in the USA, she's probably going to get back on my case again. The only solution I can think of is for me to just buy the 3-blanks for 15. And if something really catches my eye then I'll buy. I understood why the daily woot price increased,but for now I'm really sad and don't feel like trying to understand why.

sukeban

badlass wrote:The AA shirts do measure as stated on the sizing chart. Take the tightest shirt you own that you'll still wear. Lay it flat and measure across the chest. Whatever that number is is the smallest chest width number you need to order for it to fit. Good luck! If it doesn't fit, you can always try selling/trading it on the Random Shirt Trade thread. Just search for "trade"

Yeah, I know, and I've bought shirts from other websites that have fitted OK. I'm just worried that everyone's saying that AA tees run smaller than expected.

Then again, my first woot tee has just shipped and I won't get to try it on until next week as soonest, so I really can't talk until I see it in person.

kllangellier

I'm quite unhappy with this. When you announced the price increase, and people complained, I was like "Hey, they are still made in the US, so it's well worth it!" I also said I'd have paid $15 on the first day just to keep them made in USA. But now you've increased the price, and you are outsourcing... What am I to think?
Also, am I allowed to delete my recommendation on Facebook, since it was entirely based on the comfort, low price, and being American made? Because now, unless the new shirts are just as comfy, nothing in my recommendation/review is true anymore. And THAT bothers me...

mattryan

So you're taking food out of the mouths of hardworking Americans to make a few bucks. ... I hate to admit it but I think it's time to find a new website to spend my money. This is ridiculous. A price hike AND cheaper quality shirts on top of no longer being "made" in the USA.

Wake up Woot, there are more important things in life than a billion dollars in profit. You guys have lost your way. I hope some of the artist protest (looking at you RamyB and Bassanimation) and quit submitting their prints to you.

Hoping this is like Netflix with Quickster and you realize the error of your ways before everyone dumps you.

publicart

While I'm glad the working conditions are fair. My concern is moving jobs overseas. A large part of why our economy is faltering and the reason people can't find "good jobs" is because the work available in the US is polarized. You either have to work crappy retail/service jobs like McDonald's, or you have a management, professional, or technical position. The middle range "good jobs" come from factory jobs that produce tangible goods. Factory jobs in the 1970's made up most of the workforce and were jobs people could get without a college degree, but still make a living wage.

By using products made outside the US it's hurting our economy. I'd be fine to pay more and stick with USA made shirts. I know in the short term it will allow you guys to make more profit, but in the long run we're losing buying power by moving jobs overseas. How will we buy your shirts if we don't have jobs?

renegadetim

EVERYONE knows Anvil shirts are cheaper than AA shirts, so will the shirts go back down to $10 or not?? If they stay at $12, this is a clear money grab.

ALSO, It looks like Woot better look into making prints and posters readily available (from a US source) so we can all still support all the artists we've come to love, while not having to wear a shirt not produced in the US for more money than we paid for US produced shirts for years!

If not, it looks like a lot of people will stop buying, making the incentives for artists not as great (not as many sales) and the great artists going to other sites....

Woot, you need to address the price change, because otherwise this looks clearly like a profit grab. No other way around it.

(You survived charging $10 for years, then you increased it to $12. Now you decreased the cost of the shirt but they are still $12??? Inflation explains an initial increase on the same shirts(AA), but getting a cheaper product should either decrease price or increase profit, which is it doing, woot?)

lyneldsouza

I really don't care too much about this change (and welcome it in some ways). The AA shirts were nice, but weren't consistent in size and fit at all. Quite a few different tees I picked up of the same size, varied in length/fit.

onefreeman

We won't know about the tee quality until we actually get Woot shirts on Anvil blanks - you may have an Anvil shirt from elsewhere but there's no way of telling whether it's the same 'model' of shirt

To all those demanding a reversal of the price increase - have you considered that perhaps both were kinda necessary? Sure, Woot could probably go back to $10 for a year before having to increase, but it's still a good price for a tee, and they have a business to run, y'know?

If running with Anvil blanks lets them do more cool stuff (and the shirts are, as promised, of equivalent quality) then I'm all for this.

Blix360

I had never bought a Woot shirt till the last mystery shirt sale. I got 3 and I was very pleased with the quality of the shirts and became interested in checking daily for future shirts I might want to purchase.

I ordered XL. I'm 6'2 and an average build. For the most part I have to order XLT. I won't be able to machine dry these shirts let alone take another 3/8" hit. If I order 2XL I might as well tie a string to my leg and catch wind.

rowanmikaio

missmelis wrote:I will probably buy in each of the next two months' random sales - those should still be populated primarily by shirts printed on AA blanks. Aside from that, and scrounging up the cash to buy pretty much every current tee I like from the Reckoning, I suspect my woot purchases will drop off sharply.

Well it looks like their blank shirt sale is AA, so I wouldn't be too sure about how long they're gonna last, especially with the more-commonly-used colors. (Also, why are randoms still 6.66 but blanks are 7.99?)

Add me to the list of dissatisfied wooters. The price increase was already pushing woot to an uncomfortable place, but I was ready to adapt to that. I'm very displeased about this new change, though. I'm not likely to buy non-US shirts.

Josephus

mrwednesday wrote:So the short version is that you're outsourcing your blanks so that you can fund pet projects that operate at a loss because they aren't popular enough to be sustainable? And you're doing all of this at the expense of your core business and values?

I am completely serious when I say please point me to the part of this decision that makes sense.....

Invisiblemoose

onefreeman wrote:To all those demanding a reversal of the price increase - have you considered that perhaps both were kinda necessary? Sure, Woot could probably go back to $10 for a year before having to increase, but it's still a good price for a tee, and they have a business to run, y'know?

No, $10 is a good price for a quality silk-screened AA shirt. $12 is a fair price.

Now we're being asked to pay that same $12 for a much cheaper shirt.

I don't care if the quality is "nearly as good." I have plenty of T's with quality that is "nearly as good." I've stopped wearing them for years now because I like Woot's AA shirts so much more.

sillykris

Drat it all! As a lady, it's incredibly hard to find shirts that are both consistently flattering and awesome. I've impulse-bought more shirt.woot t-shirts than any other specifically because they're exactly the weight, shape and fit that I can't seem to find anywhere else. I might, MIGHT try one of the new shirts-- but I have a feeling I might be scouring the interwebs for other places that print on the original shirts..

SaulB50

onefreeman wrote:To all those demanding a reversal of the price increase - have you considered that perhaps both were kinda necessary? Sure, Woot could probably go back to $10 for a year before having to increase, but it's still a good price for a tee, and they have a business to run, y'know?

I definetly think that they should lower the price if they're switching providers. If they did wait a year to do the price hike it wouldn't look as much like a cash grab of lowering quality and raising prices at almost the same time. Especially when one of the claims of the reasons they raised prices was to keep using AA, which I understood and still ordered a shirt the day of the price hike.

I have 2 different anvil blanks, they're okay but neither are as comfortable as AA. Perhaps the ones woot will purchase will be better, but that's not my main problem with this.

I might still buy some shirts in the future, but with the price being higher, quality being lower and them not being made in the US, I have a lot more reasons convincing me not to.

JKoleszar

I buy shirts here for the designs, not the blanks. If you want blanks from a specific vendor, there are better, faster, cheaper ways to do that. If, on the other hand, you LIKE the designs, the write ups, the community... Then suck it up cupcake. It's a t shirt. It's not the end of the world.

I happen to work in the industry and I know that almost every manufacturer has shortened their shirts in recent years. Less cloth means more profit for them. 3/8 of an inch is a huge difference on some people, but is still better than a lot of companies that took off more from the length of their shirts.

Phew.... Quite a lot for my first woot post. Now I shall return to my corner of the Internet and return to my life of quiet contemplation, whilst maintaining my attitude of Suck it up, Cupcake. It's just a shirt,

"The problem with being nuts, she thought, is that you don't always feel as if you're nuts. Sometimes, in fact, you feel perfectly sane, and there just happens to be a trailer-shaped dragon crouching in the lot next door."
— Christopher Moore

homer41

This is upsetting. I'm 6'9'' and AA shirts are the only ones I feel comfortable buying without trying on and they are just BARELY long enough. That missing 3/8 inch means a lot when your shirt is already in danger of revealing your belly button. Couldn't you have switched to a supplier that makes tall sizes?

kildar

wow. never realised before how far in the minority i was. i've passed on a number of designs that i was interested in because i really was not a fan of the AA shirts. i always felt like they were thin and more clingy than i preferred (yes, i'm a fat guy and, yes, i did order the 3Xs). i'm curious how the anvil shirts will wear.

certainly, i'm sad that woot is switching from an american company to an outside company but i can understand their desire to be or remain profitable and, without greater knowledge into what happened between the companies or what goes on behind the scene at woot as far as their bottomline goes, it's hard, at leaset for me, to judge what's going on fully.

good luck, woot. hopefully, this won't be a decision that ends up hurting you in the long run. i certainly look forward to trying out at least one of the new shirts once a design that strikes me arrives.

2thFairy

EVERYONE knows Anvil shirts are cheaper than AA shirts, so will the shirts go back down to $10 or not?? If they stay at $12, this is a clear money grab.

ALSO, It looks like Woot better look into making prints and posters readily available (from a US source) so we can all still support all the artists we've come to love, while not having to wear a shirt not produced in the US for more money than we paid for US produced shirts for years!

If not, it looks like a lot of people will stop buying, making the incentives for artists not as great (not as many sales) and the great artists going to other sites....

Woot, you need to address the price change, because otherwise this looks clearly like a profit grab. No other way around it.

(You survived charging $10 for years, then you increased it to $12. Now you decreased the cost of the shirt but they are still $12??? Inflation explains an initial increase on the same shirts(AA), but getting a cheaper product should either decrease price or increase profit, which is it doing, woot?)

ChronoSquall14

kildar wrote:wow. never realised before how far in the minority i was. i've passed on a number of designs that i was interested in because i really was not a fan of the AA shirts. i always felt like they were thin and more clingy than i preferred (yes, i'm a fat guy and, yes, i did order the 3Xs). i'm curious how the anvil shirts will wear.

certainly, i'm sad that woot is switching from an american company to an outside company but i can understand their desire to be or remain profitable and, without greater knowledge into what happened between the companies or what goes on behind the scene at woot as far as their bottomline goes, it's hard, at leaset for me, to judge what's going on fully.

good luck, woot. hopefully, this won't be a decision that ends up hurting you in the long run. i certainly look forward to trying out at least one of the new shirts once a design that strikes me arrives.

Right there with you on all points. I'm a somewhat heavier guy, and while I love Woot! shirts, the AA designs are definitely a bit thin and clingy for me. I often felt that I would like Woot! shirts better if I was skinnier and taller, and maybe Anvil will be more inclusive. The shirt shrinkage was also very noticeable, and I'd like a shirt that hews closer to the original size even after being washed and dried.

I would love to buy an Anvil shirt just to see how I'd like them. Keep those sizes updated, Woot!, and I'll buy Family Picture as soon as the design is changed over to take the Anvil for a spin.

I know these decisions aren't made lightly, with many variables in play, and so long as the quality is the same (or better?), I will remain a customer.

chipgreen

djenkins1982 wrote:I could have sworn it said somewhere that the $2 hike was to keep the shirts made in America. Maybe I'm crazy here.

That was my understanding as well. Feels like a bait & switch.

I was ok with the higher price and have ordered several shirts since it went into effect. I would have been less ok with retaining the same price but switching to a non-American supplier. I probably would have bought one to check it out and then decided from there if I wanted to continue buying woot shirts.

However, I am not ok with the double-speak that has led to both higher prices and foreign shirts. In fact, I am offended by it.

xyike

anhaire

I have to say that I'm excited about a different women's fit. In AA, I wore a men's size S comfortably, but a women's XL was tight. That just doesn't make sense.

I am sad that the shirts will no longer be made in the US, though. Like many people commenting, I will buy one to test the fit and how they hold up, but I hate losing my certainty about the quality of shirt I'm buying. Even when I've bought designs that I ended up not liking, I knew the AA blanks would hold up well and feel soft for ages.

KimNicole

JKoleszar wrote: Then suck it up cupcake. It's a t shirt. It's not the end of the world. ,

Nope, it's not a cupcake. It's a commodity I purchase and I have the right to determine how I spend my money. I also can tell the merchant what I want to continue to spend my money on and choose to spend elsewhere if they aren't receptive.

Sucking it up us an understandable attitude on a free website, if ignorant of the profits to be made on your information/targeted marketing. It is not understandable at all on a website where you purchase goods.

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